In the manufacture of cigarettes, a rope of tobacco is customarily formed and is sheathed with cigarette paper. The paper is unwound from a reel in the cigarette making machine. Traditionally, the off-winding reel is located on the rope machine component of the cigarette machine. Because of the extraordinary great quantity of cigarettes manufactured per time unit, it is necessary to place a new reel on the cigarette machine about every 10 to 14 minutes.
The beginning of the paper strip of a new reel is connected with the end of the paper strip of the off-winding reel such that the feed of the paper strip to the cigarette machine is not interrupted. This uninterrupted operation is obtained by accelerating the off-winding reel shortly before reaching the end of the paper strip of the off-winding reel to lay out a certain spare length of cigarette paper in a buffer zone. The cigarette paper is then withdrawn from the buffer zone while connecting the new reel with the old reel and when an end portion of the cigarette paper is in a rest or stationary state.
The connection of the paper strip of the new reel to the paper strip end of the old reel usually occurs with the aid of a strip of adhesive film. The adhesive film can be detected later in the cigarette machine and can be removed. Manual devices are required for application of the adhesive strip to the paper ends, which devices cannot be automatized without great difficulty. This also requires a cyclic operation of the cigarette machine. German OS No. 34 02 022 discloses an automatic adhesive strip feed which requires additional automatic devices (reel feed).
Attempts have been made to provide a completely automatic feed of a paper strip lead from a new reel into the cigarette machine. Avoiding the use of an adhesive strip has also and especially been sought. U.S. Pat. No. 3,089,661 discloses connecting two paper strips to each other by a stamping. This can be attained either by milling with a transversally fluted roller or by stamping with a roughened punch. It has been shown that this connection gives two paper strips of sufficient strength. However, as a result of the stamping process, the connection between the two paper strips is so unflexible that damages arise in the tobacco rope machine. Flexibility of the paper strip is attained with milling solely in a transverse direction. However, this transverse milling makes the sheathing of the cigarette rope with the paper strip difficult. Stamping with a roughened surface gives rigidity in both directions, so that, along with the difficulty of sheathing the cigarette rope, still other problems arise with the manipulation of the paper strip. These connection processes therefore could not possibly be carried out.
For completely automatic connection of two paper strips from an off-winding reel and a new reel, it is further required to feed in the paper strip lead of the new reel to the paper strip of the off-winding reel. German OS No. 29 38 635 teaches separation of the protective strip or the first layer of the new reel by a cutting tool, followed by conduction of the then freed paper strip lead over a suction and conveyance device to the paper strip of the off-winding reel. The new reel, however, cannot be cut with adequate precision such that only one single layer of the paper strip lead is cut. This device is complicated and apt to break down.